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Amazon takes on Temu and Shein with discount ‘Amazon Haul’ store

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 16:02:29 +0000

Amazon has rolled out its answer to the discounted, low-cost storefronts of Temu and Shein. The Amazon Haul store, currently available on the mobile app or mobile web browser exclusively, offers similar mass-produced, discounted items, most of which ship from China. It’s a departure from Amazon’s long-established reputation as a powerhouse of rapid delivery times […]

Patreon gets gift subscriptions in time for the holidays

Amanda Silberling — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:51:17 +0000

Creator subscription platform Patreon is making it a bit easier for fans to support their favorite creators this holiday season. The creator membership platform announced on Wednesday that it will roll out gift subscriptions, as well as functionality for creators to offer discounts for membership sign-ups. The gift subscription feature had previously been in testing […]

Just Eat Takeaway finally offloads Grubhub, sells to Wonder for $650M

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 06:11:52 +0000

Netherlands-based food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com said on Wednesday that it is selling its U.S. business Grubhub to New York-based Wonder Group in a deal valued at $650 million — a stark 91% less than the $7.3 billion Just Eat Takeaway paid for the company just four years ago. The deal is expected to close in […]

India’s Swiggy defies weak market in largest 2024 tech IPO globally

Manish Singh — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 04:43:24 +0000

Shares of Swiggy surged 7% to ₹440 on Wednesday as the food-delivery and quick-commerce startup concluded India's second-largest IPO this year.

Fleek, a marketplace for wholesale secondhand clothes, sews up $20.4M

Ingrid Lunden — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:53:25 +0000

Fleek, an online marketplace that connects second-hand clothing wholesalers with those who sell it at retail, has raised a $20.4 million Series A.

Lightspeed doubles down on Wheelocity as it pivots to rural India commerce

Jagmeet Singh — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 23:30:00 +0000

Lightspeed has led Wheelocity's $15 million round as the startup pivots to rural India commerce.

Swiggy’s public debut will test India’s appetite for $1B+ IPOs

Manish Singh — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 12:16:07 +0000

Swiggy’s upcoming IPO on Wednesday will finally give many analysts a public comparable for what has been long considered to be the Indian internet stock: Zomato. It will also test the nation’s appetite for IPOs that can scale past the $1 billion mark. For its IPO, Swiggy has already secured $1.4 billion from institutional investors, […]

Encore is an AI-powered search engine for your thrifting needs

Ivan Mehta — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Former Apple engineer Alex Ruber and former Twitter and Asana engineer Parth Chopra first met on Y Combinator’s founder match platform, then met in person at a thrift store for shopping. They later went on a thrift store shopping trip where they talked about solving problems with finding the right product in the online space. […]

Automattic’s new site tracks how many websites left WP Engine following feud with Matt Mullenweg

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 15:04:43 +0000

A new website called WP Engine Tracker shows how many sites have moved away from hosting provider WP Engine since the company’s feud with WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg began in September. Automattic, which runs a rival web hosting service and is headed by Mullenweg, confirmed it created this site. The site’s full URL is WordPressenginetracker.com, […]

Pinstripe wants to redefine the way online sellers sell secondhand clothing

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:58:57 +0000

Pinstripe aims to reimagine the secondhand market by offering sellers the opportunity to have both a digital storefront and a physical retail presence. Launched in June, the platform offers an alternative approach compared with other marketplaces like Archive, Depop, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark. With Pinstripe, sellers take their clothes to local consignment stores, vintage shops, […]

Printful and Printify ink a merger deal

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 15:30:00 +0000

Two veteran European companies in the world of on-demand printing are merging, and you may have not even realized they were separate companies to begin with. Printful and Printify, both startups with Latvian roots providing custom printing services, are coming together as a single company. They are framing the move as a natural fit to […]

Flash, founded by ex-Flipkart exec, launches in the US to help shoppers juggle multiple online orders

Lauren Forristal — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:30:00 +0000

Flash, the payment management service that tracks all your online purchases, announced Tuesday its entry into the U.S. market, giving American customers the ability to manage all of their spending in one place while also earning rewards, such as gift cards and cash back. The U.S. is home to many big spenders, making it a […]

Amazon begins delivering select products via drone in Phoenix

Kyle Wiggers — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 14:01:03 +0000

A few months after ending its drone-based delivery program, Prime Air, in California, Amazon says that it’s begun making deliveries to select customers via drone in Phoenix, Arizona. Starting today, Amazon customers in the West Valley Phoenix Metro Area have access to a drone-deliverable selection from Amazon’s catalog, including household, beauty, office, health, and tech […]

MealMe, the startup integrating food ordering tech into apps, picks up $8M

Lauren Forristal — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:30:00 +0000

MealMe, a unified API that embeds food and retail ordering into consumer apps and websites, announced on Thursday that it secured $8 million in Series A funding. The newly raised capital brings the total amount raised to $16 million. Since its launch in 2019, MealMe has undergone several changes. Initially, it was a consumer app designed […]

Temu’s low-cost marketplace faces formal probe in EU over raft of DSA compliance concerns

Natasha Lomas — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:13:23 +0000

The European Union has expanded its scrutiny of online marketplaces by opening a formal proceeding on Chinese low-cost e-commerce platform, Temu, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Commission announced Thursday. Enforcers of the online governance framework will now dial up their oversight of Temu. The bloc’s suspicions are focused on concerns about the sale […]

Matt Mullenweg talks about Automattic’s staffing issues and financials at TechCrunch Disrupt

Ivan Mehta — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:21:01 +0000

WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg talked about his fight with WP Engine, Automattic’s staffing issues, and the company’s financials at TechCrunch Disrupt on Wednesday. Mullenweg repeated a lot of stuff from the past month about the trademark fight, WP Engine not contributing to the community, and misleading customers to believe it was associated with […]

Meesho claims Indian e-commerce first with positive cash flow

Manish Singh — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:10:39 +0000

Meesho has become India’s first horizontal e-commerce firm to generate positive cash flow, marking a significant shift in a market where profitability has long remained elusive even as new competitive threats emerge. The SoftBank and Prosus-backed startup, which serves customers in smaller Indian cities and towns, reported positive operating cash flow of ₹232 crores ($27.6 […]

Amazon brings its Rufus AI shopping assistant to more international markets

Paul Sawers — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:43:48 +0000

Amazon is extending the availability of its AI-enabled shopping assistant, Rufus, to more markets in Europe and the Americas. The e-commerce giant has been widely considered to be playing catch-up with its Big Tech brethren in the AI sphere, particularly against the backdrop of the generative AI hype these past couple of years. Rufus is […]

YouTube brings its affilate program to India, partners with Flipkart

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 06:33:00 +0000

Just ahead of the local festive season, YouTube has brought its affiliate program to India, letting uploaders tag products in their videos and earn referrals.

Amazon adds gasoline discounts for Prime members, EV charging savings to follow

Lauren Forristal — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 13:38:35 +0000

Amazon is challenging Walmart+ by offering Prime members a discount on fuel to combat high gas prices. The company announced on Wednesday that Prime members will receive a 10 cents per gallon discount at around 7,000 Amoco, AM/PM, and BP gas stations across the U.S., potentially saving them about $70 annually on fuel. To access […]